we had an excellent first day of open studio weekend saturday. we started off with a long list and a pretty big pile of disorganized stuff friday morning, but by 5:30, we had it all together, the studio doors were locked, and kit and i were sitting by the pond. click the photos to enlarge them ...
we added the leather seats to the chairs first thing and put them upstairs out of the dust explosion that occurs once a year when we clean the shop for this event. this is what it looked like around 9:00 am, and the photos above and below were taken just before i shut out the lights at around 5:00.
as you come in the door there are two slabs of claro walnut that we finished in anticipation of clients who were arriving friday after lunch to discuss a coffee table, which they ordered. the weekend was off to a good start ...
they considered the two we had put finish on, but in the end, selected one that we hadn't prepared ... bonus ..
these 6 ladderbacks we built to go with the claro slab table with the rebar 'x' base that we finished thursday. that table and chairs will be going to the guilford, vermont, welcome center on route 91 for july, august, and september as a display piece to troll for new work. the state offers space to crafts people who ask for it for free in three month blocks. i was lucky to get the summer block and my contact told me that over 600,000 people stop there in an average year. it is a beautiful space. imagine that ... we have high hopes for that piece of marketing.
probably the 'most commented on' item of the day was this copper top table we finished on friday around 2:00. (cut it a little close) .. it's 3' wide and 11' long.
it's based loosely on an antique french provincial wood top table image from the internet. this table will get its own post as the whole process was interesting. you can see most of the half size mockup behind the chairs photo above. 
it turns out that the mahogany coffee table will be around for another 3 weeks or so so we found a place for that .
sam finished the base thursday for this bench we fabricated from an offcut of a table we made two years ago. it was originally about a foot wider and had some issues, but after some judicious trimming, made a nice little bench ... i actually sold it today and it will be going to a local home where they'll use it as a coffee table on a covered porch ... perfect ...
sam had two of his three spark screen/fireplace inserts on display and they received some excellent reviews ...
and will dropped off his new 'daffodil' banjo that he finished wednesday on his way to a gig in glover, vermont, waaaay up north ...
rum drinks and beer for my crew ... kit got her jewelry set up in the finish room ...
and penny set up her paintings in the finish room with kit's jewelry and then took a rum and a tour of the shop with trevor ...
we go back to the late 70's with jim and penny, and you couldn't ask for better friends ... all for now ...more photos tomorrow ...